Sunday, August 17, 2008

The Ultimate Rejection Letter

I just stumbled it, and thought was worth a laugh :)

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http://www.chaosmatrix.org/library/humor/reject.html

Herbert A. Millington
Chair - Search Committee
412A Clarkson Hall, Whitson University
College Hill, MA 34109

Dear Professor Millington,

Thank you for your letter of March 16. After careful consideration, I
regret to inform you that I am unable to accept your refusal to offer me
an assistant professor position in your department.

This year I have been particularly fortunate in receiving an unusually
large number of rejection letters. With such a varied and promising field
of candidates, it is impossible for me to accept all refusals.

Despite Whitson's outstanding qualifications and previous experience in
rejecting applicants, I find that your rejection does not meet my needs at
this time. Therefore, I will assume the position of assistant professor
in your department this August. I look forward to seeing you then.

Best of luck in rejecting future applicants.

Sincerely,

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Power of you, the common man.

UPDATE 1: A preliminary hearing of Siddqui's case is set for Aug. 19, 2008 in NY.

UPDATE 2: Siddiqui's lawyer in Pakistan, Iqbal Jaffry's motion aimed at compelling the Pakistani government to disclose what it knows about her status after her disappearance is set for Sept. 2, 2008 in Pakistan.

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A 30 year old Pakistani woman, an MIT-trained biologist. March 30, 2003 she disappears with her three kids in Karachi/Pakistan, allegedly picked by FBI and Pakistan’s ISI (FBI equivalent). Agencies either deny any connection to her or claim she was working for Al-Quaida.

A Story about a prisoner 650 in Afghanistan’s Bagram prison surfaces, who has allegedly lost her mind due to years of continuous torture and rape.

It’s suggested by various media outlets and people in the “inner circles” that they are both the same person, Dr. Afia Siddiqui.

Here is her picture http://karachi.metblogs.com/2008/07/30/prisoner-650-dr-afia-siddiqui-missing-since-2003/

For five years, no definite news on Dr. Afia come to light except rumors until yesterday, August 4, 2008. All of a sudden it’s reported that Dr. Afia has been flown to New York from Afghanistan to face charges for assaulting US officers in Afghanistan.

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/aafia-siddiqui-arrested-attempting-kill/story.aspx?guid=%7B3A35E6A8-B07A-4D91-BDB9-CEA47FF0E47B%7D&dist=hppr

I have not heard anything about her three kids yet.

What one makes of this story is up to oneself. I just hope that she, along with thousands of innocent victims of this blind and brutal secret machines, gets justice.

I believe the reason for this extraordinary development is that as more and more people found out and questioned the authorities about it, the more pressure it put on them to which they finally succumbed.

People did not let her story die despite of all the odds and as a result she seems to be walking alive today. The power of people seems to have once again won the odds.

If you think this is worth spending your time, here is a very basic list of things you could do, if you can suggest more, please do, I’ll add it to the list (except for facebook which does not allow editing Notes).

1) Sign the Asian Human Rights Commission’s Urgent letter of Appeal http://www.ahrchk.net/ua/support.php?ua=UAC-167-2008 which will send an email to Bush, Karzai, Gilani, Farooq Naek & Rehman Malik

2) Sign the online petition http://www.petitiononline.com/af258633/petition.html for her release

3) Join the two groups in Facebook which are participating in raising awareness for her release http://www.new.facebook.com/group.php?gid=28530506102 and http://www.new.facebook.com/group.php?gid=21777867538

4) Email left-oriented bloggers like DailyKos http://www.dailykos.com/contactus (send email to Markos Moulitsas) and Huffington Post http://www.huffingtonpost.com/contact/ (can email scoop@huffingtonpost.com)

Points you could mention in the emails/calls:

1 - The secret detention program is now well known and we are just starting to learn the facts about how extensive it was.
2 - There is mounting evidence that Aafia Siddiqui was illegally detained at Bagram.
3 - The government's charges against her seem too ludicrous to believe and need to be fully investigated.
4 - Now that she is in the U.S. this is an important opportunity to hear her story and learn the truth.